Northern Studies and Ainu Culture　　　Takashi Irimoto

　The Ainu bear festival is part of the cult of bears (or more precisely, part of the respect paid to bears), and is found extensively in the Northern Hemisphere (Hallowell, 1926). From the viewpoint of northern studies, it is positioned as an extension of circumpolar cultural studies (De Laguna, 1994; Gjessing, 1944), which were a product of attempts in the 19th and 20th centuries to connect reindeer hunters in the Upper Paleolithic of France and Arctic Eskimos.
　The bear festival is for sending off bears that are mountain deities, as is succinctly expressed in the Ainu term iomante (a thing/sending-off). Some old records refer to it literally as the “bear-sending festival” (Hata Awakimaro, 1798) or “bear-sending” (Ouchi Yoan, 1861). However, a variety of interpretations, such as materialism, sacrificial ceremony and commemoration of ancestors, have been found in later ethnological documents. Interpretations in such documents include the collection of the gallbladder (Matsumiya Kanzan, 1710), offerings to divine spirits or sacrifices to guardian deities (Mogami Tokunai, 1790), prayers to ancestors (Hezutsu Tosaku, 1784; Matsumae Hironaga, 1781) and the killing and deification of bears (Hata Awakimaro, 1799).
　Batchelor (1889: 108) first interpreted the bear festival as a ritual “to kill and send as a present to another person/to kill a bear for a feast.” He thought that the Ainu bear festival was the sacrifice. But it was not the sacrifice but the sending-off ritual, in which the bear spirit was sent back to his own world, without being offered to another higher gods or supreme beings. The sending-off ritual is based on the cosmologically different concept of the sacrificial ritual which is widely known among herders (Irimoto 2004; 2007). Batchelor later changed his interpretation to describe it as a ritual to send the spirits of bears to their ancestors and to eat their meat and drink their blood to acquire their virtue and power (Batchelor 1932: 38), which is still misleading, since he did not understand the hunting strategic meaning of the bear festival. It is then considered that iomante was positioned as a ritual to send off the spirits of bears in early modern ethnological and linguistic studies mainly in the 1920s and 1950s (Ifukube, 1969, Inukai and Natori, 1939; 1940; Kindaichi, 1929; Kubodera, 1956; Sato, 1961). Watanabe (1994) also defined the Ainu bear festival as a ritual to send off the spirits of bears that is found widely among northern hunter-gatherers.
　Based on the above series of studies, Irimoto (1987; 1988a; 1988b; 1994; 1996a) conducted intensive and extensive comparative studies of circumpolar cultures (Irimoto and Yamada, 1994; 2004; Yamada and Irimoto, 1997) and established an anthropological database of the Ainu in the Saru river basin (Irimoto, 1992), which led to analysis of the Ainu bear festival as part of hunting behavioral strategies to secure the success of hunting, based on the Ainu cognition of reciprocity between Ainu (human) and kamui (deity). In other words, the significance of the bear festival was clarified from an anthropological perspective as an act based on more universal ideas, such as the original oneness and reciprocity between humans and nature (Irimoto, 1983; 1996b), behind the phenomenon-level description of “sending off the spirits of bears.”
　It was also pointed out concerning the origins of the Ainu bear festival that the sedentariness of the Ainu and the availability of the surplus food necessary to bring up a cub are requirements for the reared-cub festival (Watanabe, 1964: 213; Obayashi and Paproth, 1964: 233) and that the festival’s development was related to the social aspects of the Ainu (Watanabe, 1964: 212). Watanabe (1972) called the set of cultural elements surrounding the event the bear festival cultural complex, and presented it as a meeting point of ethnology, history and archeology. Studies of the bear festival in the field of archeology have also been promoted (Utagawa, 1989; 2004). Watanabe (1974: 81) speculated that the belief/ritual system of the bear festival, which forms the core of the Ainu culture, has its origins in the north, and was descended most directly from the Okhotsk culture. This is in line with speculation from an ethnological perspective that the Ainu bear festival came from the animal rearing culture by boreal forest hunter-fishers living between the Amur River basin and Primorskii (Obayashi, 1973: 77).
　However, fully organized ethnological materials adequate for discussing the origins of the bear festival have not yet been presented. While it has often been said that the Ainu bear festival varies by region, no collective or systematic analysis of it has been conducted. Although there have been separate descriptions of the event, no anthropological studies to compare, analyze and integrate them have been conducted.
　The bear festival is a ritual to send off the spirits of bears, which are mountain deities. However, this is not the entire substance of the festival; a variety of activities, including games and feasts, take place concurrently with the sending-off ritual, a making the event a special opportunity with a variety of meanings. Therefore treats the festival itself is treated as a symbolic activity representing the world of the Ainu. Based on this definition, Irimoto (2008; 2010a) first summarized and presented the form and content of the Ainu bear festival from the viewpoint of temporal sequencing with the Saru region as the standard. Second, comparison and analysis of the regional and temporal (historical) variety of the event were made to provide an overall picture of it. Third, the significance of the festival was clarified from an anthropological perspective. Fourth, the dynamics of the event were clarified. Lastly, a definition of the bear festival was given, and future perspectives for studies to explore the origins of the human mind from the event were outlined (Irimoto 2008; 2010a).
　As results, the bear festival (which has emerged, evolved and changed while showing temporal and spatial variations) was found to be a dynamic system that has been consistently supported by the concepts of original oneness and reciprocity, either between humans and deities or among humans. Original oneness and reciprocity are presented specifically as visits of deities in the bodies of bears, exchanges of gifts and the sending-off of deities, and people experience them in a sensory way at the festival. This may go beyond the culture specific to the Ainu bear festival – it might be a universal mental nature among hunter-gatherers, especially those in northern circumpolar regions (Irimoto 2010b), that goes back to the origins of the human mind.
References
Batchelor, John
　1889 An Ainu-English-Japanese Dictionary and Grammer. Tokyo: Kumata (printed for the Hokkaido Local Government).
　1932 The Ainu bear festival. The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan. 2nd series 9: 37-44.
de Laguna, Frederica
　1994 Some Early Circumpolar Studies. In Circumpolar Religion and Ecology. Irimoto, T. and T. Yamada (eds.), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp. 7-44.
Gjessing, Gutorm
　1944 Circumpolar Stone Age. Acta Arctica. Fasc.II. København: Ejnar Munksgaard.
Hallowell, A. Irving
　1926 Bear Ceremonialism in the Northern Hemisphere. American Anthropologist 28(1): 1-175.
Hata, Awakimaro (Murakami Shimanojo Hata Awakimaro)
　1798 A Record of Experiences on Ezo. In Natural Wonders of Ezo Island. Hata, A. 1982. Sasaki, T. and S. Tanizawa (research commented), Tokyo: Yuhosha. (in Japanese)
　1799 Natural Wonders of Ezo Island. [Hata, A. 1982. Natural Wonders of Ezo Island. Sasaki, T. and S. Tanizawa (research commented), Tokyo: Yuhosha.] (in Japanese)
Ifukube, Muneo
　1969 The Bear Festival of the Saru Ainu. Sapporo: Miyama Shobo. (in Japanese)
Inukai,Tetsuo and Takemitsu Natori
　1939 On the Significance of the Bear Festival (iomante) in Ainu Culture and its Local Forms, Part 1. Studies from the Research Institute for Northern and Arctic Culture 2: 237-271. (in Japanese)
Irimoto, Takashi
　1983(2002) From the World of Canadian Indians. Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten. (in Japanese)
　1987 A Cultural Anthropological Analysis of Historical Data on the Ainu of the Saru River Region: c. 1300-1867 A.D. Bulletin of the Institute for the Study of North Eurasian Cultures 18: 1-218. (in Japanese with English summary)
　1988a A Cultural Anthropological Database on the Ainu of the Saru River Region. Bulletin of the Institute for the Study of North Eurasian Cultures 19: 1-96. (in Japanese with English summary)
　1988b How the Ainu Hunted Bears: Symbolism of Hunting and Behavioral Strategies. The Japanese Journal of Ethnology 53(2): 125-154. (in Japanese with English summary)
　1992 Ainu Bibliography. Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
　1994 Religion, Ecology, and Behavioral Strategy: A Comparison of Ainu and Northern Athapaskan. In Circumpolar Religion and Ecology. Irimoto, T. and T. Yamada (eds.), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp.317-340.
　1996a Ainu Worldview and Bear Hunting Strategies. In Shamanism and Northern Ecology. Pentikäinen, J. (ed.), Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp.293-303.
　1996b Shizenshi of Culture: An Anthropology of Nature and Culture. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. (in Japanese)
　2004 The Eternal Cycle: Ecology, Worldview, and Ritual of Reindeer Herders of Northern Kamchatka, Senri Ethnological Reports, No.48. Osaka：National Museum of Ethnology.
　2007 Reindeer Herders, Philosophy of Cosmic Cycling. Tokyo: Akashi-shoten.
　2008 A Reappraisal of the Ainu Bear Festival. International Symposium on Circumpolar Reappraisal. Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Trondheim, Oct. 10-12, 2008.
　2010a The Ainu Bear Festival. Tokyo: Yuzankaku.
　2010b Human Evolution and Northern Adaptation. Journal of Cultural Anthropology 74(4).
Irimoto,Takashi and Takako Yamada (eds.)
　1994 Circumpolar Religion and Ecology. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
　2004 Circumpolar Ethnicity and Identity. Senri Ethnological Studies,No.66. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
Kindaichi, Kyosuke
　1929 A Story of Bear Festival. Folklore 1: 77-88. (in Japanese)
Kubodera, Itsuhiko
　1956 Bear Festival. Cultural Properties of Japan 15: 23-24. (in Japanese)
Matsumiya, Kanzan
　1710 Records on Stories about Ezo (In Local Names of Eastern Ezo. Hata, A.) [Sasaki, T. 1982, On the Natural Wonders of Ezo Island. In Natural Wonders of Ezo Island.　Hata A. 1982. Sasaki, T. and S. Tanizawa (research commented), Tokyo: Yuhosha, pp. 229-242.] (in Japanese)
Mogami Tokunai
　1790 Accounts of Ezo. [1972. In Series of Northern Gate vol.1. Otomo, K. (ed.), Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai.] (in Japanese)
Obayashi, Taryo
　1973 The Life in Kotan and Bear Festival. The Sun 118: 73-77. (in Japanese)
Obayashi, Taryo and Hans-Joachim Rüdiger Paproth
　1964 Bear Festival of the Orok in Sakhalin. The Japanese Journal of Ethnology 29(3): 218-236. (in Japanese with English summary)
Ouchi, Yoan
　1861 Night Tales from the Eastern Ezo (Last Part). [1972. In Series of Northern Gate vol.5. Otomo, K. (ed.), Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai.] (in Japanese)
Sato, Naotaro
　1961 The Bear Festival in Kushiro. Series of Kushiro 3: 95-178. (in Japanese)
Udagawa, Hiroshi
　1989 Archaeology of Iomante. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. (in Japanese)
Udagawa, Hiroshi (ed.)
　2004 Iomante of Bear and Owl―Ethno-archaeology of the Ainu. Tokyo: Doseisha. (in Japanese)
Watanabe, Hitoshi
　1964 Social Function of the Ainu Bear Ceremony and Ecological Factors Relevant to its Development. The Japanese Journal of Ethnology 29(3): 206-217. (in Japanese with English summary)
　1972 The Establishment of The Ainu Culture: The Confluence of Ethnological, Historical and Archaeological Studies. Journal of the Archaeological Society of Nippon 58(3): 47-64. (in Japanese)
　1974 The Origin of the Ainu Culture: Especially its Relationships to the Okhotsk Culture. Journal of the Archaeological Society of Nippon 60(1): 72-82. (in Japanese)
　1994 The Animal Cult of Northern Hunter-Gatherers: Patterns and Their Ecological Implications. In Circumpolar Religion and Ecology. Irimoto, T. and T. Yamada (eds.), Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, pp. 47-67.
Yamada, Takako and Takashi Irimoto (eds.)
　1997 Circumpolar Animism and Shamanism. Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press.
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